for a pistol

a poet is a pistol with an extended clip bustin off rounds in2 da head of america and brains ooze on streets where blk children once played that are now dog runs for bleeding rich history and heresy. amiri hollow point baraka will bust a cap in ur ass on nostrand and fulton and make u get religion and revolution up in here...in a kangol hat lined w the newspaper of prose that fit the dome of negroes in old coogi sweaters that biggie wore out...amiri would wear that ass out like and angry uncle after a 12 step meeting..preach baraka preach in newark in harlem in jamaica in watts inside of the loose shoes that is america...preach amiri and teach that to live is to sweat em for what they done did

dedicated to amiri baraka

the brown beatnik tomes

danny simmons

In the tradition of Romare Bearden and Langston Hughes, KMW studio publishing is proud to present the brown beatnik tomes, a unique spiral bound collection of strikingly powerful prose and neo-African Abstract Expressionist paintings from artist and poet Danny Simmons.

the brown beatnik tomes is a harmonious blend of Simmons’ voice and vision. His words are gritty and startlingly real, juxtaposed with the vivid colors of his paintings, creating a world that is completely fresh and original, yet reminiscent of an era past.

release date: July 2014

$40.00

+ $7.00 s&h sent USPS (U.S. only). All other Countries and multiple copies please email us at sales@kmwstudio.com for rates.

All transactions are via Paypal for your added protection.

Special offer with advance orders!

Half price copy of Deep in Your Best Reflection $10.00 with advance copy of the brown beatnik tomes.

2 books for $50! + s&h

about the author

Danny Simmons is a contemporary abstract-expressionist artist, poet and author from Queens, NY. His art work can be seen all over the world in such prominent establishments as Chase Manhattan Bank, The Smithsonian, the United Nations, Deutsche Bank collection and more.

Among the most impressive artists of his day, The New York Times says that he “injects freshness” into his abstracts, and that they are “meticulously rendered and decoratively impressive.”

Simmons is also an author of six books of art, poetry and fiction. He conceived of and co-produced the hit HBO series Def Poetry Jam, which made such an impact that Def Poetry is now offered as an elective at the University of Wisconsin, and won Simmons a Tony Award for the Broadway version of the show.

Co-founder – along with his siblings, music mogul Russell, and hip hop legend Joseph Simmons aka “Rev Run” – and president of the Rush Arts Gallery, Simmons is also founder and VP of the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, a 501(c)3 organization “dedicated to providing disadvantaged urban youth with significant arts exposure and access to the arts,” as well as a former board member of the Brooklyn Museum, the Brooklyn Public Library, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the National Conference of Artists.

Other Titles by Danny Simmons

poems in 160 characters

The brown beatnik tomes show thatyou dont need an instrument to play jazz. Simmons uses shapes and colors to tell his story. The words pop on the page and the paintings are eye popping. WELL DONE.

Ishmael Reed

Danny has captured a world that easily could have been lost forever, a world of conked hair, pointy toed boots, nickel bags, baby blue suits and red light parties…A world where it wouldn’t be strange to dream you saw, “Bob Dylan pay homage to an effigy of Leroi Jones on burning Newark streets rattling a necklace of harmonicas at passengers on slave ships roaring streets of history buck dancing for loose change selling lines of tomes for pittance sake.”

Russell Simmons

As the late art critic Robert Hughes once famously said, ‘A determined soul will do more with a rusty monkey wrench than a loafer will accomplish with all the tools in a machine shop.’ The resolute wrench of visual artist Danny Simmons is nowhere near rusty stained. It is the prosody of is trilingual fluency; of code switching contemporary art with seamless be-bop jazz influenced verse thrown full force, waking up boundaries of aleatory space with an explosion of spectral colors - the result: urban gnomes, undines, and sylphs of love & shoes, altogether mouth wateringly magical.

Carl Hancock Rux (author of “Pagan Operetta” and “Asphalt”)

Danny Simmons’ writing is deeply informed by his career as a painter: words splatter, curl and move across the paper in brush strokes that reveal his passion and artistry.